Chen Ahfu smiled and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off Chen Yulan's forehead, saying, "That's not the case. It's easy to add flowers to a beautiful woman, but it's hard to send charcoal in the snow. True friendship is revealed in times of trouble..."
Chen Yulan sat for a while and then asked to leave. Chen Afu did not try to persuade her to stay, as he had to go back to help entertain the guests.
Chen Afu later regretted very much that she had not gone to the Chen Mansion today and had not seen the scene that made her excited.
Chen Yulan returned home and saw that the front yard was empty, without a single guest.
The servant whispered that a few elders from the old family had come to the house and said they were here to marry a woman. The guests had all left, and the master was with them in the outer study to discuss matters.
Chen Yulan listened to this, although he didn't show it on his face, he was secretly happy inside. He felt that it was not good for him to have such emotions, and it was unfilial, but he couldn't help but feel happy.
At the end of last year, Chen Shiying came back home because of what happened to Zhao. He heard that Zhao had done so many evil things and hindered Chen Shiying's future. Even the death of Chen's father was related to her. Chen Laozu was furious. Chen Shiying was the glory of their family. How could they allow Zhao to harm her? At that time, he wanted to take his clansmen to Dingzhou Prefecture to represent the family to marry out.
However, the clan leader, Old Man Chen, thought more about it and said that he didn't know whether Chen Shiying had done anything illegal in private, and didn't know how serious his crime was. If it was serious enough to implicate the clan members, he should never force himself to take the lead.
Later, news of Chen Shiying's deeds gradually reached Hunan Province, and the news became more detailed and known to everyone. Chen Shiying had not done anything illegal, it was the evil woman Zhao who did it, and Chen Shiying failed to supervise her and even wanted to take the blame for his mother...
This made the Chen family members, who had always been proud of Chen Shiying, feel ashamed. The girls from the Chen family, who had always been in great demand, suddenly no one was willing to marry them, saying that the women from the Chen family were not virtuous.
In early March, Chen Laozu brought the clan leader Chen Laobo, several clan members who were highly respected, and one of his great-grandsons to Dingzhou Prefecture. They took a bull cart for three days and a boat for seven days, and arrived in Dingzhou Prefecture in mid-March. The old men were quite smart and did not go to Chen Mansion, but stayed in an inn.
This morning, the news that Chen Shiying returned to Dingzhou Prefecture and was still serving as the prefect of Dingzhou spread quickly and also reached the inn, and several old men came to Chen's house together.
At that time, Chen Shiying was welcoming guests with a cheerful face when he saw a few old men coming to his house with unfriendly faces. He knew they were not here with good intentions, so he quickly stepped forward and bowed and said with a smile, "Grandfather, uncle, and uncles, if you are here to visit, I welcome you. If you want to do something else, can you wait until the guests leave?"
Old Ancestor Chen waved his hand and said loudly, "Why should we wait until the guests leave? The scandal of your family has spread all over the place. Even if we don't tell others, they will know it. We are here to help you. If you don't have the heart to deal with that evil woman, we will help you deal with her." He sat on the chair brought to him by his great-grandson and continued, "Shiying, although you are an official, you are also a member of my Chen family. I watched your deceased father grow up from a naked baby to read books and understand the world. Unfortunately, his parents died early, and we couldn't bear to see him, a good student, die because he didn't have the heart to do so. He was supported by his parents and had to interrupt his studies. He was supported by his clan from the age of nine, not only for food and clothing, but also for his studies. He worked hard and passed the imperial examinations, but unfortunately he failed the imperial examinations in Beijing. He fell ill on the way back and married the evil woman Zhao, which led to his death at a young age... Shiying, you are a good boy and the glory of our Chen clan, but you are too soft-hearted and too soft-hearted, so you indulged the evil woman. If you can't be cruel, we will help you. We can't let that evil woman ruin the reputation and family style of our Chen clan."
He then bowed to the guests who were watching the fun and said, "My lords and gentlemen, you must have heard about the evil deeds of the Zhao family. We are here today to represent the deceased father of the young man Shiying to marry a daughter-in-law. Please be a witness, lords and gentlemen."
The guests saw Chen Shiying's red face, so of course they would not stay here to be an eyesore. They knew Chen Shiying, but they didn't know any Chen family elders. So they all stood up and bowed to say goodbye.
Someone else advised Chen Lao Zu, "Old man, if you have something to say, please talk to him nicely and don't get angry. Master Chen has been solving cases for more than ten years and is the best at judging right and wrong."
Chen Shiying could only blush and clasp his hands together as he said to the departing guests, "I am ashamed. I will definitely treat you to a meal some other day to make amends."
Chu Lingxuan was there too. He didn't leave, not only because he was the son-in-law and had to help Chen Shiying deal with affairs, but also because he wanted to see what happened to the old lady so that he could go back and explain it to his young wife.
Seeing that the guests had left, Chen Shiying invited the elders to the outer study. After the servants served tea, he stood up and bowed to the elders, saying, "Grandfather, my mother did something wrong, but she buried my father and raised me to adulthood. Just for these two reasons, you can't divorce her."
Patriarch Chen snorted coldly and said, "I am going to divorce her today not only because that evil woman did bad things and affected your future and made it difficult for the daughters of the Chen family to find a husband, but also because she killed her husband."
Chen Shiying said, "Grandfather, this is not nonsense. If my mother killed my father, the government would arrest her."
Patriarch Chen snorted coldly, "You know clearly whether I am talking nonsense or not." Then he gave Patriarch Chen a look.
Patriarch Chen cleared his throat and read out several reasons for expelling his wife.
First, Zhao indirectly killed her husband. When Chen's father was seriously ill, a senior monk suggested that Wang be brought in as a child bride. However, Zhao pretended to obey and did not give Wang a chance to be his daughter-in-law. She even planned to drive her away, which offended the gods and made Chen's father's condition worse until he died.
Second, he was unvirtuous and unkind. As soon as his son passed the imperial examination, he secretly drove away his daughter-in-law Wang, who was in mourning for his father and was celebrating his father's death, and instigated others to sell her to the mountains.
Third, he was greedy and disregarded the law. He accepted huge bribes in the name of his son many times, and allowed Zhao's family members to bully the people in the village and seek money, which hindered his son's future.
Fourth, he was selfish and vicious. In order to cover up his own evil deeds, he instigated others to sell his granddaughter.
Chen Laozu also said that Zhao was sentenced to be divorced only because she killed her husband because of Chen Shiying's success, otherwise she would have been sentenced to drowning. If Chen Shiying dared to use his official status to pressure them not to divorce Zhao, he would lead the clan members to ask the local officials to make the decision. Anyway, Chen's father and Zhao's household registration were both in Hu'an Province, and the local officials could directly sentence her to be divorced...
Chen Shiying knew that if he didn't handle this matter well, he would not only bring shame to his hometown again, but his mother might even be divorced. Although he was also angry at his mother for doing so many evil things, he couldn't bear to see her divorced at such an old age.
Of the reasons for divorcing his wife, he had no way of refutation for the last few, but he absolutely could not admit the first one. If he admitted it, his mother would definitely be divorced.
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